Tacos are my new favorite food

In case you haven't heard yet - WE ARE MOVING TO CHICAGO!!! Chris and I are both out of our minds with excitement over this. Seriously, I haven't stopped laughing for the last 28 hours. I am sure if a stranger saw me they would think I escaped from the loony bin. George has picked up on our excitement and has been quite the "enthusiastic" puppy. If only he could direct all that energy into something useful - like packing!

If you are on facebook you may have heard that this all came about because Chris ate a really good taco. It's true. A taco changed our lives. Last Friday (6 days ago) Chris took my brother to our favorite little eatery, Mesquite. It's a super tiny Tex Mex restaurant that uses all fresh, local ingredients and their menu is always changing. Anyway, Chris decided to try their special - a roasted Long Island duck taco that had been marinated in a sweet and spicy mandarin orange sauce and topped with goat cheese. It was so amazingly delicious he just had to call someone to tell them about it. He chose to call the head of North American Business Development for one of his manufacturing suppliers. Chris knew that Ron lived in the area and was familiar with the restaurant, so he thought he would recommend Ron bring his family over to try out this spectacular taco. While on the phone Ron asked Chris how he's been and what he's up to. Chris mentioned that my family was in town from Chicago. That prompted Ron to say, "Chicago, really? Late this afternoon I found out our Chicago territory opened up." To which Chris replied, "I will send you my résumé when I get home."

Fast Forward to 9 AM Monday morning. Chris aced the phone interview. Slow Forward to 9 AM Wednesday morning. I say "slow forward" because Tuesday could not have passed any slower. Wednesday morning Chris met with the man in charge of hiring and by 11 AM he had a written offer in hand. They insisted he bring it home and talk it over with me (as if I was going to turn it down!) so by 3 PM on Wednesday Chris was the new Midwest Regional Sales Manager for Binder. His official start date is September 1st.

Are you jumping up and down and squealing like a little girl yet?! I am! Ha ha. (Don't worry, I'm not really jumping up and down...)

Ok, now onto baby updates. Everything is perfect. As I expected, the genetic counselor reported all good news. There is a 1 in >10,000 chance that our baby has any of the genetic diseases that they tested for.

I have been feeling a lot better these past two weeks. I seem to be over the nausea and fatigue :D WOO HOO!

Other than that I don't have anything else to report. I hope to see most of you really soon!

Lots of love,

Nicole

Time to relax

This past week was chock-full of doctors appointments, and for once we came away from them feeling relaxed about our situation. First up was our ultra-screen/nuchal translucency exam which tests for Down Syndrome and chromosomal abnormalities. While we have to wait until Saturday for the genetic counselor to give us our official results, the perinatologist said everything he reviewed looks normal.

Next was our first meeting with the perinatologist (high risk Ob). What a relief he was! For once we were talking to someone who really knew what was going on and who took the time to thoroughly explain it. And the best part was, he seemed completely unconcerned about my situation! I mean that in the best possible way. He is the only doctor who gave us an explanation of where the hematoma came from - a small tear of the placenta away from the uterine wall. And he didn't just tell us this, he took the time to show us several sonogram pictures which clearly showed the separation. The bleeding has stopped, which is a very good sign, but it still needs to be monitored just to be safe. Unfortunately, he still recommends bed rest because while the placental tear is small enough at this point to not affect the baby's growth and development, if it were to become larger it could be dangerous to the baby's health. Therefore, activity is the enemy :( I am still allowed some activity, mainly short walks, but I am restricted from lifting anything over 5 pounds. Book and movie recommendations are encouraged!

The perinatologist also addressed my bicornuate uterus. For him it's a non-issue. He even said it's entirely possible to have a natural birth, we'll just have to wait and see how the baby is positioned six months from now. The regular Ob I have been seeing was ready to schedule me for a c-section right from the start, so that was music to my ears! Obviously it is extremely early to be discussing birth plans, but I am beyond thrilled to now have a doctor that isn't so eager to cut, cut, cut!

Today I had another appointment with my regular Ob. Well, same practice, new doctor (there are four doctors in the practice). I think I have found my guy! The first doctor I had been seeing was very high strung (the one who told me at like 10 weeks that I would be having a scheduled c-section in January). She was very panicky, didn't seem to really know anything about my situation, and I always came away from those appointments feeling a little unsure and overwhelmed. Today, this guy was so reassuring! He didn't look at me like I was a ticking time bomb and instead of focusing only on what COULD go wrong, he focused on what IS going RIGHT. From now on I am going to try to schedule my appointments with him. I don't really have any medical news to report from the appointment as it was just a routine check-up. Everything is still looking good.

Next up is our meeting with a genetic counselor on Saturday. Personally, I don't really think it's necessary for us, but the perinatologist says it's S.O.P. for all of his patients to meet with one.

That's all for now. Stay cool and enjoy these last few weeks of summer!

Lots of love,

Nicole

P.S.

Let me know if you have any book or dvd recommendations!